Gibasier (zee-bah-see-ay) is a French Breakfast bread especially during Christmas time. Infact it is one of 13 traditional French Christmas desserts and is served after the Midnight Mass to signify the Last Supper of Christ and his 12 apostles.
The buttery breakfast bread was the chosen one for this month We Knead to Bake by Aparna from Baking Artisan Breads & Pastries. It can be baked as a round loaf or smaller single serve breads with snips that give it a really festive look. Made of orange blossom water and filled with candied orange peel, sprinkled with snowy powdered sugar, definitely I felt festive while baking and loved it first bite onwards.As usual I went for half the recipe and made mini portions.
Ingredients:
Biga:
Bread Flour: 3/4 cup (i went for all purpose flour)
Milk: 1/4 cup
Instant Yeast: 1/32 tsp
Dough:
Egg: 1 Ener G Egg: 1.5 pkd tsp of EnerG + 2tbsp water + another 2 tbsp optionally
Olive Oil: 1 tbsp
Orange Blossom Water: 1 tbsp
Warm Water/Orange Juice: 1 tbsp
All the biga from above
Bread Flour/ All Purpose Flour: 1 cup + 10 tbsp
Granulated Sugar: 4 tbsp
Salt: 3/8 tsp
Instant Yeast: 3/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp
Butter: 3 tbsp butter
Anise Seeds: 1 tsp
Candied Orange Peels: 4 tbsp
Orange Zest: 1/2 tsp
Preparation:
Make the big the previous night by mixing all the ingredients together to get a slightly stiff but smooth dough. Add little more milk if too stiff.
Transfer to an oiled bowl and cover with a plastic wrap loosely. Let it stand overnight at room temperature for about 14-16 hours. By this time it would have risen and have a fermented look.
Bread Dough:
Put the egg(Ener G), olive oil and orange blossom water in a processor bowl and run few time to mix well. Add warm water and mix. Mix all the liquids together with Ener G Egg and olive oil and run a couple of times.
Add the chopped up biga pieces, flour,yeast, sugar and salt and blend together to get a smooth dough.
Add the chunks of butter - just soft and not too soft- to this and knead till the butter is incorporated before adding the next chunk. knead well until the dough is soft and supple.
Add the candied peel, zest and anise seeds and knead till incorporated. Shape into a round and place in a well oiled bowl turning to coat well. Cover loosely and let it sit until doubled up for about 2 hours.
When done, turn the dough into smaller equal sized portions, shape into round portions and let it rest for another 15-20 minutes.
Then take each portion and roll it into a oval or semicrircle. I went for oval (or looking similar :) ) and then halved it so as to get two semicircles. Take each semicircle and make three cuts, one in the centre and two at equal distances from the centre one on either side by pushing the scissors straight into the dough. Then using scissors, make 4 snips at equal distances along the arch.
Lift the piece, stretching it a little so that the slits spread and open and place it in a lined baking sheet . Repeat with remaining portions of the dough and let the gibassiers rise until puffy for about 30-45 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for about 15-18 minutes until golden brown on top.
Take out and while still hot, brush it with melted/clarified butter(ghee) and immediately sprinkle powdered sugar atop.
Serve as a breakfast pastry or anytime snack. Perfect with tea and definitely give a festive feel.Never before I have felt so festive or Christmassy while sprinkling the powdered sugar over the bread.
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